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BBC Report: Conservationists
say elephant poaching is on the rise across Africa (Photo: ethicaltraveller.com)
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A
Kenyan businessman suspected of being behind an international ivory smuggling
ring has been arrested in Tanzania.
Police
said that Feisal Mohamed Ali was linked to a three tonne haul of elephant tusks
seized in the Kenyan city of Mombasa, according to BBC.
Mr
Ali had been in hiding for months and was on an Interpol most-wanted list for
ivory traffickers.
Elephant
poaching has risen across Africa in recent years, fuelled in part by increasing
demand from China.
In
June, Kenyan police mounted a raid and discovered ivory equivalent to more than
100 poached elephants.
Since
then Ali had been on the run, according to the AFP news agency, and was listed
as an "environment criminal" by Interpol before his arrest.
The
Kenya Wildlife Service says poachers have killed 142 elephants in the country
this year.
A
spokesman said the figure was down from 302 last year, due in part to
anti-poaching laws.
But
in Tanzania, where Mr Ali was arrested, around 10,000 elephants were killed
last year.
Conservationists
say demand from wealthy buyers in China is fuelling the problem.
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Earlier this
year, China destroyed a large quantity of confiscated ivory for the first time
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In
November, an environmentalist group accused officials travelling with Chinese
President Xi Jinping of going on an ivory shopping spree during a visit to
Tanzania.
The
delegation reportedly purchased so many products in a local market that prices
soared, according to the group's report.
Both
Tanzanian and Chinese officials rejected the allegation.
Researchers
believe that since 2010 an average of nearly 35,000 elephants have been killed
annually in Africa.
They
warn that if the rate of poaching continues, the animals could be wiped out in
100 years.
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